Posted: Tue, Jul 12, 2005, 8:11 AM ET (1211 GMT)
Houston-based Spacehab, a company best known for developing modules flown on the space shuttle, is planning to develop a modular series of cargo spacecraft to help service the International Space Station. Spacehab officials told the Houston Chronicle and MSNBC that they are proposing to develop Apex as a way to provide commercial ISS resupply services. Smaller versions of Apex, capable of carrying a few hundred kilograms of cargo, could be launched on small vehicles like the SpaceX Falcon 1, while larger versions, which could carry in excess of 10,000 kg, would be launched on EELV-class boosters. Versions of Apex could also be used to return cargo to Earth, and could also be the basis for a manned spacecraft. NASA officials, including administrator Michael Griffin, have expressed an interest in procuring commercial ISS cargo services, particularly given plans to retire the shuttle by 2010.